The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Pre-vacation quick smashes

Sorry about taking the unplanned break this week – i had to prep for the first fishing trip of the year. There’s a “few” items that need commenting upon:

David Prosser won the recount by 7,004 votes, a drop of 312 votes from the pre-recount 7,316-vote margin. JoAnne Kloppenburg is now on the clock for what is widely expected to turn into Grand Theft Courts, and we’ll know one way or the other on Tuesday.

Fiat needed some serious federal refinancing in order to get to a near-majority position in UAW Motors. They tried and failed to get $3.5 billion on the private market, so they reduced their planned Energy Department loan to $3.5 billion and used that to pay off the higher-interest-rate loan from the Treasury Department. I will note that they did put in $2.4 billion of their own money to finish paying off the Treasury part of the loan, and that it apears the entire $1.7 billion owed to the Canadians was out of Fiat’s pockets entirely.

The day after the Department of Justice suggested Maryann Sumi recuse herself from the collective bargaining case because she filed a prejudicial brief on the DOJ/Department of Administration petition to the Supreme Court, she decided to prove that suggestion justified. It’s not surprising she did that, because compliance with the state Constitution is voluntary in the Kingdom of Dane, but the most nitpicky of nitpicks apply with devastatingly-harsh force to the enemies of the Kingdom.

It looks like the Rats will have their Rolling Recalls after all. They managed to throw up enough smoke to delay consideration of the three targeting their kind, and something tells me even if the GAB asks for a further extension of the deadline to call for elections, the Dane County judge that gave them the first extension and opened the possibility of the first 8 happening on the same day won’t do that again.

DOOM! Part 1 – Initial unemployment claims went up unexpectedly again. Just as “unexpected”, the prior week’s numbers were revised upwards the 11th week in a row.

DOOM! Part 2 – The Senate Rats once again believe no budget is necessary. After all, the continuing resolutions are continuing the $1.5 trillion deficits, and DOOM!sday is expected to be August 2 (coincidentally, I’ll be out of town that day as well).

At least the Legislature is moving right along. The FY2012-2013 budget is taking shape, voter ID is about to become law (on June 9 unless another Lawgiver-In-Black decides to have a hissy fit), and multiple versions of concealed carry are percolating up and out of committee. Life is good in Wisconsin.

On the Presidential horserace front, Tim Pawlenty (I wish it were T’Pau) is in, Mitch Daniels is out, and Rick Perry is waffling on whether to get in or not. Meanwhile, the conservative glitterati are acting like children on a road trip continuing to ask Paul Ryan if he’s in yet.

The Brewers went from pretender to contender with the just-busted 6-game winning streak. Now watch them go back to pretender before I get back.

Have a good weekend everybody. Do take some time on Monday to remember those who gave all so we can live in the greatest country in the history of mankind.